#rivervale_lodge

"She is! She's a service dog, she likes to go visit people and cheer them up."

"Has a vest and everything."

"Cool!" Jack says more impressed than ever, and he pets again telling Lady Bird "Thank you for your service"

WAG

Jack nods "She says You're welcome, I think" A look to Connor to be sure

He looks thoughtful. "She can just go places with you? Like anywhere?"

"Well, because of how she's trained - not everywhere, because I don't need her. But service dogs can go lots of places, when they're working."

He offers Ladybird another crust. "is the training hard?"

"It took her about a year. But she's smart, and did a really good job. She can open doors and turn light switches and knows LOTS of words."

He beams at her. "I already know how to do most of those things!"

"I bet!"

"Do you think I can get a vest too? It's awful pretty, and it looks cozy."

"If I had a vest, maybe no one would chase me at a grocery store." A sigh.

"I think, with a vest, you might still need a person with you."

"I can find a people. Probably." He looks excited for a moment, then deflates. "I guess everything is closed forever though."

"Sometimes it feels like that, yeah."

"Someday if they open back up, I want to see a movie. Not on the TeeVee, but in the special seats and the big screen. And go to the mall and they make pretzels and have all sorts of stores in one place. Or fly on an airplane because that's flying and doesn't even need any wings and you can just look out the window and maybe there's a gremlin there. And go to a restaurant and I don't even mind if I can't eat because I can watch everyone and smell all the smells and maybe there is a bag for later." His tone wistful, but then he ducks his head. "But I don't need none of that. Did I tell you there are THREE new trees growing on the southern trail? One I think will be an Oak - not you, Oak - but the others are still too twiggy to tell."

She tilts her head, looking at him. "Why can't you...."

His head tilts in response, ears flopping to one side. "It's an eerie tale about how I'm an Escheater." A solemn nod.

"Ah..." She considers. "There's ways to hide your ears, though."

"And my tail. And... people are scary and if they see me, I'm an escheater and they'll put me in a lab-not like Ladybird. Or there are people who are daunting."

"I've tried fuddle... but " He scuffs a foot. "Sometimes I get excited and I forget to keep it going. Or it wears off."

"Yeah, it's hard and you would have to be very careful. Maybe a treasure?"

"I have a fuddle-collar but chief doesn't like it when I wear it. It costs juice too, and I don't want to use up all the juice because I don't go shopping to buy more. It's impolite." A sigh. But then he gives her a winning smile. "But it's okay, because we have rainbow toast right here and I get to meet nice ladies with wings. And no silly reg'lar people get to do THAT."

"Well - the Chief is the boss..." A frown.

"And no, who else gets rainbow toast?" She rallies, and fluffs her feathers.

"It's the best!" And he sneaks another bite down to Ladybird.

"It's good!" Jack says

"I went to Mexico and ate a churro." Crunch on the toast. "Have you had a churro? It's like cinnamon toast, but better."

"I've had churros before, they are very good!"

"Did you ever get a churro from a burro?"

"The Churro from the burro, did you get it in a hurro?"

"Not from a burro, no."

"That's Mexican for pooka." He adds. "No, I ate it slow. Nice and thorough."

She checks an invisible point in the air.

Jack looks at the invisible point

"Miss Sparrow, is Siv going to live at EarthRunes forever?"

"Not forever. She's learning to be a Fiona."

"Are the tests hard?"

"We don't miss her any or anything, there are plenty trolls here. But she had good stories about traveling on her ship. I miss her stories. When she's passed the test, then she can come home?"

"Sure she can."

There goes that tail again!

"She's working right now, on a quest - but maybe she can visit after that's done?"

"Does she need help? We could go find her."

"She has help. She's being very brave, and cunning."

"Fionas ARE very brave. It's confusing though, now she's going to be a lion, and I thought she was a fishie."

"There are Lionfish though. I saw it on a tV show" Jack says

A laugh.

"A LIONfish? What's next, a sea horse?"

"It's true" He says "they're all bristly and stuff... and Seahorse daddies act like moms.. I think." He says